Turtles All The Way Down | John Green
Published: 10th October 2017 by Penguin
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
I, like many others, was kind of nervous to read this book. John Green is popular, like really popular. I think basically every young adult has read one of John's books and if you were around the bookish community during The Fault in Our Stars time then you know the hype that surrounds his work. So yeah, this book has a lot of expectations surrounding it and thankfully, it lives up to them!
Published: 10th October 2017 by Penguin
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
I, like many others, was kind of nervous to read this book. John Green is popular, like really popular. I think basically every young adult has read one of John's books and if you were around the bookish community during The Fault in Our Stars time then you know the hype that surrounds his work. So yeah, this book has a lot of expectations surrounding it and thankfully, it lives up to them!
This story centres around a young adult, Aza Holmes -who struggles from OCD and anxiety- on her quest to uncover the mystery of a fugitive billionaire whilst discovering and rekindling friendships. Whilst this book is about mental illness, and is about friendships, and is about mystery, it really can't be put into any category other than 'life'. Like all of John Green's books, Turtles All The Way Down inspires us to be introspective and is a study on living and everything that surrounds that.
John himself has said that he's "not good at plot" which I agree with to an extent. Other than TFIOS, I don't find his books plot led, instead they're emotionally driven. To me that's why they're so successful because our lives don't have a set, idealistic plot, they just happen. The majority of events we experience are caused by our emotions and that's what makes us unique. We can't all have cookie cutter lives; we have issues. Issues that John so perfectly puts down on paper. Whilst they are of course linked to specific characters, I find that John's writing allows them to be easily transferrable and relatable.
As someone who doesn't suffer with OCD, I can't comment on how truthful the depiction is but it seems honest and truthful. Aza's struggles aren't sugarcoated or melted down to create a cutesy YA novel. Instead they're raw, awe consuming and relentless but prove that through anything, we can all persevere and survive.
I don't want to give too much away about this story because I think it's much better to just experience but know that it will leave you feeling all the emotions and you'll certainly want to sit and reflect for a while after finishing it.